Two very different sides of the Internet

Posted: Sunday, May 11, 2008

Perhaps you've already heard of Randy Pausch. If not, I'd love to be the one to introduce you. He's a 47-year-old computer science professor who holds a doctorate and has tenure at Carnegie Mellon University. In September 2006, he was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas, one the deadliest forms of the disease.

He's married with three young and beautiful children. The Pausch family pictures are straight out of a lifestyle catalog. In August 2007, he was told he had only three to six months of "good health" remaining. And so, one month later, he delivered a lecture - The Last Lecture - to 400 friends and colleagues.

I'd never heard of "last lectures." Normally robust members of academia are invited to deliver an address as if it were their last. Uncommon is that a professor such as Pausch, at the top of his mental game, would give it literal meaning. And while his students have now multiplied, he is clear the intended audience totaled only three: the children he shares with his wife, Jai, who were only 4, 2 and 3 months old respectively when he was first diagnosed.

The lecture, titled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," instantly became an Internet sensation. By now more than 15 million people have viewed it online. A recently released book version, titled "The Last Lecture" and co-authored by Jeffrey Zaslow, just debuted at No. 1 in Publishers Weekly, a bible for the print trade.

In the lecture, professor Pausch ruminates about his life. Self-deprecating and insightful, his remarks present a non-preachy lesson plan. But be forewarned. You won't turn off the lecture once you begin, and watching Pausch requires an instant and emotional commitment, not because he demands it, but because his words and circumstances do. After I viewed the lecture, I ordered the book, and then perused his blog.

It's tough stuff, but reading Pausch is not entirely a downer.

"Five years ago, I wouldn't have known about Randy Pausch, let alone seen his last lecture. I've watched the complete 76-minute lecture three times now. YouTube has made it so easy for me to do this. ... But for every Randy Pausch, there's a hundred Tricia Walsh-Smiths," said Jenkins Law Internet Librarian Dan Giancaterino.

Walsh-Smith, a playwright and actress, could use a dose of Pausch's grounding. She's the other person now causing an Internet sensation, in her case, by using YouTube, and its penchant for instant viewership, to get back at a husband for dumping her. Like Pausch, she, too, has quickly become a media figure. But there's nothing redeeming about her 15 minutes of fame because her only goal appears to be throwing mud in all directions.

Taken together, Pausch and Walsh-Smith show that the difference between "good" and "bad" use of media to air private woes boils down to one thing: motive. While he seeks to be a beneficial influence on his children, she attempts to tar and feather her soon to be ex.

In her first video, Walsh-Smith revealed that even though she and her husband never had sex, she found his stashes of Viagra and porn. She then called his assistant at work and asked what to do with the offending material.

Now it's reported that more than 3 million people know all about Tricia Walsh-Smith's bad pre-nup and the emotional distress it has caused her. And in a sequel posted last weekend, she asked for donations so she can buy a tent once she's forced to move out of her husband's apartment. I'm thinking Ringling Bros.

A salient difference is that while both Pausch and Walsh-Smith invite us to examine their lives, there's no appeal to voyeurism in "The Last Lecture." Pausch has said his goal is to preserve a piece of himself so his children can remember him as they continue to grow up. But Walsh-Smith seeks to offer only a 1-900-variety guilty pleasure.

Pausch also illustrates that there are circumstances where mass media afford appropriate opportunities for the airing of private matters. But it all depends on content. The mass media, especially new media such as the Internet, can and often do help millions of us learn something new, see something in a new way, or build up lives, friendships and communities. It's all out there if you know where to find it, which often requires guidance. That suggests a way in which the Internet is still incomplete: Who will guide us to the good stuff and warn us away from the bad?

There is a place for Walsh-Smith, too. It's the same place as it was pre-Internet: the dustbin.

Some things make claims on our attention because they are truly important. Then there are thousands of claims throughout the Internet and e-mail world, claims that seldom hold. But Randy Pausch just reset the bar.

Michael Smerconish writes a weekly column for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Readers may contact him via the Web at http://www.mastalk.com.